The Process
Made Here. Made by Hand.
Every piece in our showroom started as a lump of raw clay. Nothing arrives ready-made. Nothing is bought in finished and resold. From the first touch of the wheel to the last brush stroke before the kiln, every stage happens in this building, by hand, exactly as it has for more than fifty years.
This is what we mean when we say handmade. Not assembled. Not printed. Not cast from a mould. Made.
Preparing the Clay
Before anything is shaped, the clay must be prepared. It is wedged by hand to remove air pockets and bring the material to an even consistency. Quiet, unglamorous, essential. Clay that is not properly prepared will crack in the kiln. Good pottery begins with respect for the material.
Throwing on the Wheel
The wheel is where a piece finds its form. A ball of clay is centred, opened and raised into shape through steady pressure and patient hands. It takes years to learn how to centre clay well. It takes decades to do it without thinking. Each piece is thrown individually, and no two are ever quite the same.
Drying
Once shaped, each piece is set aside to dry slowly and evenly. Rushing this stage causes cracking. The clay needs time to release its moisture, to settle into its form, to become stable enough to handle. This is one reason a piece from Dizayn74 takes two to three weeks from raw clay to finished ceramic.
Hand Painting
This is the stage that makes each piece unmistakably ours. Every piece is painted by hand using colours and glazes Hasan and Tomrul developed themselves. The motifs come from Cyprus: the olive branch, the sunflower, the turtle, the wild bird, the donkey on the hillside. Drawn from memory, never from a template.
Glazing
After painting, each piece receives its glaze. The glaze seals the surface, brings out the colours and gives the finished ceramic its characteristic warmth and depth. Our glazes are our own, developed in this studio and refined over decades. You will not find these tones in a manufacturer's catalogue.
The Kiln
The final stage is firing. Each piece goes into the kiln at high temperature, where the clay vitrifies and the glaze fuses to the surface. We fire our own work on the premises. After more than fifty years, there is a familiarity between the maker and the tools that cannot be taught or transferred.
From Clay to Your Hands
Two to three weeks. Six stages.
Dozens of individual decisions made by hand at every step. That is what sits behind every piece in our showroom.
When you take something home from Dizayn74, you are not buying a product. You are taking home a record of someone's attention, skill and time. That is what handmade means to us.